I commend him for taking his safety seriously by exploring his options to add some instrument flying as insurance against the worst.
nb I hope you and others here are NOT suggesting that a VFR pilot with NO instrument experience is safer than one who has a level of instrument experience? The French statistics dont support that!
The IMCR which many are trying to save is being touted as a safety feature not for some sort of IR but as a safeguard for VFR pilots but that is a different topic.
The IMCR is a pretty minimal instrument flying rating which if nothing else shows that treated with respect it does have safety benefits.
Hence all you can conclude from that is that ANY instrument training has to be better than NONE!!
Well said that sums it up nicely. That would be the best choice for most hobby pilots IMHO. If one can keep current with doing a 180 out of the murky stuff, and also follow a VOR or vector from a friendy service, then those training objectives will do the trick. Recall that getting out of what you shouldna got into is what its about at this level.
Now if to train up to a higher standard of IFR, my guess is that human nature will make you champ at the bit and possibly sometimes want to have a go. Its at that point you might get in deeper than bargained for, such as meeting with turbulence that begins to overload and unravel the pilot. The problem is how to keep current if you cannot legally excercise your skills that you have bought at a significant price, and be damned if I don't get my value out of it at least some of the time type of attitude. Of course we pilots are all mature sensible people well arent we
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My plan is to remain current with PPL skill level by going up with an experienced pilot that I trust, putting on the foggles while trusting his lookout and babysitting skills, and doing it back up to checkride standards.
I would love for IMCR-type availability for suitable equipped microlights, for the purposes of climbing up on top and likewise descending. That would be a useful extension of capability which I think the aircraft is suited for. Unfortunately the strict legal technical rules in place dont currently allow this nor are they ever likely to unless we get into a much more flexible but sensible way of thinking about personal responsibility, relative and proportional risk taking, aeronautical safety skills and actual aircraft capability ...dreaming on...